Reassurance
by lostinthewords
Summary: Kids decide to join their parents at the farmhouse in 2x20 Ghost Detainee.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Finally finished this, my take on an AUish insert for 2x20 Ghost Detainee_

Stevie, Alison and Jason walked into the farmhouse, they weren't supposed to be here but plans changed so they all decided to surprise their parents, well Ali and Stevie decided, Jason just went along with it. They only made it into the entryway when  
they heard their dad's voice echoing through the house.

"The victim of everything we've done. I'm not going to leave her there to die, too."

"You didn't have to be alone in this. You-you could have talked to me."

"I can't talk to you!" Elizabeth's head snapped up, he stepped back, using the counter for support. "You're all tied up with this in my head. Sometimes when I see you, it's like I-I'm going right back there." His head stayed down, eyes focused on the  
floor; he knew he was hurting her but knowing and watching were two different things. "I know you want to help, but you can't. Because you remind me of how I failed."

He walked out of the kitchen, stopped in his tracks when he saw his children standing there, not trusting his words right now he grabbed his coat and keys and left.

"Ali, Jason why don't you go check on the horses." She phrased it like a question but they knew they didn't have a choice.

Stevie followed her mom's soft cries echoing through the house into the kitchen; sitting across from her she reached her hand across the table, offering comfort.

Elizabeth looked up, quickly wiped the tears when she saw her daughter. "What happened to the symphony?"

"Jareth was assigned a last minute paper so we exchanged our tickets for next weekend and Alison's sleepover was canceled because Molly is sick so we dragged Jason up here. Figured we'd surprise you."

Elizabeth managed a smile, hoping to rid her daughter's eyes of worry. "When did you guys arrive?" She asked when it didn't work.

"Somewhere around the time of 'not leaving her to die too'. What's going on mom?"

Moving to the coffee pot to fill a cup for her and Stevie, "It's nothing for you kids to worry about. He's just stressed about work." That wasn't a lie, "He'll be fine." She tried to convince Stevie just as much as herself.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me this is all from his teaching job at the war college? Because last time I checked teaching didn't cause this much conflict or any conflict between you two."

Elizabeth kept quiet, she's learned to lie to the kids about their jobs because she had to for several reasons but right now she couldn't do it.

"He's not just a professor is he?"

Now this one she knew how to answer, "Sweetie, as far as you and your siblings know your father is a professor." Her eyes held Stevie, silently begging her not to push this issue any further.

Stevie nodded, "I'm going to unpack, Ali and Jason are out with the horses."

Elizabeth rode on another horse since Buttercup was healing while Alison rode on her usual one. "I'm sorry you walked in on that."

"It's okay, we know you fight sometimes. You're not perfect even though you like to think you are."

"First of all, I know I'm not perfect and have no problem admitting it. Second of all knowing and hearing are two different things. You shouldn't have heard any of that. Remember you can talk to us about anything."

Alison was quiet; Elizabeth wanted her daughter to open up but knew better than to push. Finally, after 20 agonizing minutes for Elizabeth Alison spoke up, "Are you and dad going to be okay?"

"Yeah noodle, we'll be fine. As you said this isn't our first fight and this won't be our last either but we will get through it just like we always do."

"This one just seems different, I heard him say he can't talk to you. How are you going to fix things if you two can't talk it out?"

"There's just a lot going on right now at work but it's nothing for you to worry about it." It was for her to worry about. "You just focus on school, your column and being a teenager. Okay?"

"Okay. Race you back home?"

"Oh you are so on!"

* * *

The door slowly opened, light flooding into the room. Henry stripped down and climbed into bed a little after midnight. Hoping to avoid a tense run in with Elizabeth, he wasn't ready to talk yet, even if it was awkward, forced small talk before bed.

She rolled over once he was settled. "You need to talk to Jason tomorrow." When Henry didn't respond she continued, "I already talked to Stevie and Alison but Jason wasn't ready."

"How much did they overhear?"

"Just the end but it's enough for them to worry about us. I can reassure them all I want but they need to hear it from you too."

"Okay I'll talk to them."

They went to sleep without another word.

* * *

Henry looked up from his papers when he heard Jason's footsteps pass behind him. "Hey Jason come here for a second."

Sighing he walked over to his dad, "what's up?" He knew this talk was going to be about that's why he avoided his parents for the day. But now there was no escape.

"I know you overheard what we said, I'm sorry."

"Sorry we overheard you or sorry you said it?"

Henry hesitated, "both."

Jason scoffed, "Yeah that's real convincing. Did you mean it?"

"I shouldn't have exploded like I did. With that said this is situation is a lot more complex than you and your sisters know." His voice rose at the last part, prompting Stevie and Ali to come out of hiding in the next room and join them.

"I want you all to listen to what I'm going to say next. No matter what happens I love your mom and nothing will change that. We will work this out, it's just going to take sometime."

They all nodded, letting him know they heard him.

Henry held out his arms, the girls went first tucking into each of his sides. Jason followed after a few pleading looks, piling on top of them.

* * *

Jason, Alison and Stevie all watched their dad comfort Elizabeth from the window. Staying away at her insistence, she didn't want Buttercup to sense something was wrong.

Stevie was a little angry with her dad for leaving at a time like this; she's never seen her father leave her mother in a time of need. He knew how much Buttercup meant her and still he left, even at her insistence he never backed down until this morning.  
However, it dissipated a little when he came back, reassured her that he was still the man she thought he was.

Alison's fear dissolved as she watched Henry comfort Elizabeth. As much as her family annoyed her and made her feel invisible at times, she always looked up to her parents, knew when she grew up she wanted a relationship just like theirs, still madly  
in love 25 years later.

Even though he wouldn't admit it, this fight scared him. He knew his parents fought, had even overheard it a few times but never heard either of them blame the other one for something. He didn't know what the cause was but it didn't matter; in that moment  
it was clear they would work it out just like always.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: I wasn't going to continue this but then adii1201 and angeliena planted the idea in my head to continue and I couldn't let it go so this was written. Now this is complete._

Jason jogged through the door, taking the stairs two at time, he grabbed the paper he left on his desk and headed back downstairs. He landed in the kitchen at the same time the phone went off. Knowing it was his mom's phone he looked around but didn't see her; figuring it might be important he picked it up to bring it to her. He didn't mean to read it but it was right there in front of him a reminder for a couple's therapy appointment in two hours. Quickly dropping it he snuck out before anyone noticed him.

The rest of the school day was a blur, his thoughts focused on the notification he saw. He flipped back and forth between thinking it was a good thing and worrying that it meant things were worse than they seemed. His parents were so hard to read at times, they've always been sickeningly in love but they were human and did have their bad days. Given their jobs it was expected them to be stressed and sometimes that tensioned spilled into their home, despite their attempts to keep him and his sisters life as normal as possible.

* * *

The opening of the front door distracted Stevie from her reading. She watched her dad slightly stumble up the stairs without noticing her. Was he drunk? She did not understand what was going on between her parents but she did not like it. First, he left when Buttercup was sick and now he was skipping events and coming home drunk? It may not be her place to insert herself into their relationship but on the other hand it did affect her life and they needed to realize this.

* * *

"Jace, Stevie, come say goodbye to your dad." Elizabeth called out.

"When are you coming back," Stevie questioned.

"Sunday at this point, but it could go a little later," he said covering his bases just in case. He hugged Stevie goodbye.

"Oh right, because a weekend with a think tank in San Diego could totally run into overtime." He rolled his eyes, "Sounds more like a separation," he muttered under his breath, hoping his dad didn't hear it over his conspiracy theorist comment.

Elizabeth shot him a glance that he didn't see.

"Wherever you're going, have a wonderful time." Stevie conceded. She still couldn't shake the feeling her dad wasn't just a professor.

"A small break from the texting, please?"

"Sorry. See you Sunday." Allison gave him a hug and kiss from the couch.

"You do realize it's psychologically damaging to grow up in a false reality?" He didn't just mean lying about his job; his parents were creating a false reality for the whole family pretending everything was okay when it wasn't.

"I'll remember that next time you ask me for an Oculus Rift."

"Oh, walked right into that one!" Stevie teased from the bottom of the staircase.

* * *

Elizabeth took the phone from Blake, trying to hide the panic in her voice. Between Henry blaming her and now off in the Middle East with no communication her mind quickly ran through all the worst-case scenarios. "Ali, baby, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"You didn't sign the New York trip permission slip."

"So you're not bleeding out on the street somewhere?"

"I left it on the coffee maker last night." Alison rolled her eyes at her mother's dramatics.

"Well I ended up staying at work all night."

"Oh yeah, that'll fly with Dean Ward. Quaker education is all about personal responsibility." She reminded her mother.

"You know Richard Nixon was a Quaker. Just saying."

"If it's not signed by 3:00, I'll be stuck in study hall while all of my friends are seeing Hamilton."

"Oh, Hamilton, well I'll have Blake take care of it. But listen, no more saying that it's an emergency unless there are paramedics or SWAT teams involved." She knew she was being overly cautious but right now she couldn't help it.

Allison nods despite her mom not being able to see her.

"I love you, baby."

* * *

The smell of pizza wafted through the house, bringing Jason and Allison and downstairs.

"Here nerds I brought substance since mom's going to be at work late again."

They took their seats at the table and grabbed a slice while Allison chatted about her day and the latest drama at school but it fell of deaf ears.

Stevie couldn't forget about her dad coming home drunk the other night. Normally she would've just shrugged it off but with their recent fight and the slight tension ever since nagged at her. She could tell their fight wasn't over; it went deeper than they were letting on but they were hiding it and that scared her even more. Not that wasn't used to her mom hiding things, between her CIA position and now Secretary of State it was inevitable but this was different.

Jason was accustomed to tuning out Allison, never really interested in her column or her tales of being peer mediator. The notification he saw haunted him ever since, he tried to reason that therapy wasn't a bad thing, that it wasn't a last ditch effort to save their marriage. However, stories from his friends and everything online pointed to the contrary. His dad's trip came at a convenient time, he hoped it was just another boring conference like they said, that this wasn't a trial separation but that fear was still there in the back of his mind. His mother staying at work all night didn't help ease his fear.

"Mom and dad are in therapy," Jason blurted out, tired of keeping this secret.

"What?"

"How do you know that?"

He explained finding the phone the other morning.

"What did she say about it?" Stevie questioned.

Jason shrugged, "She didn't say anything. I put the phone down and left."

"Well that doesn't have to be a bad thing, therapy means they're trying to work out their problems. If it were anything serious they would be talking to lawyers not a therapist." Allison reasoned, refusing to believe the worst-case scenario.

"I don't know, something hasn't seemed right since their fight in the farmhouse. Dad came home drunk the other night. After he told mom he couldn't go to her event with her. And now that we know they're in therapy. I don't know what to make of this."

"Wow way to have faith Stevie. Come on it's mom and dad, they've survived dad being in the Marine Corps, mom in the CIA for 12 years and who knows what else. They're totally and nauseatingly in love, there's no way their marriage is in serious trouble."

"I don't know Allison, isn't it suspicious that dad is on a work conference this weekend when it wasn't on the schedule and mom is staying at work all night."

"Jason I think your conspiracy theories are getting a little crazy if your applying them to mom and dad. I mean it's not unusual for her to stay at work all night."

"Ali will you open your eyes for once. They had that in the farmhouse where dad said he can't talk to her or sometimes even look at her without being reminded of something, then they go to therapy, he comes home drunk after bailing on plans with mom and now he just so happens to have a work conference this weekend. They may not be involving lawyers but there is something serious going on."

Stevie saw the worry flash across her sister's eyes. Always the optimistic one the troubling stuff affected her most. "That's enough Jason."

"Maybe you guys are right. I didn't think anything of it before but when I talked to mom about not signing my permission slipped she sounded stressed. I assumed it was about work, that's why she didn't come home last night but maybe it's not about work."

She hated to see her siblings worry about this. They were only teenagers; they should be focused on school and friends not the stability of their parent's marriage. "I see your point but the truth is we don't know what's going on. Clearly they're not ready to include us, which is a good sign. So, we go on with life as usual until they tell us differently. Got it?"

They nodded and returned to their pizza slices without another word.

* * *

Jason would not stop grilling his father about San Diego; Henry answered every question with ease, not thinking twice about it. Jason, being the anarchist he was, was always trying to catch his parents in a lie.

Hoping to put an end to it Elizabeth changed the subject, "Hey noodle how is the peer mediating going?"

She perked up at her mom showing interest in her life. "It's going really well! I think I'm actually helping people and making the school better. I know you've always said talking is the best way to resolve conflict but actually being apart of the dialogue and solution helped me realize you were right."

"They would know something about therapy." Jason mumbled under his breath.

"Jason." Stevie chided.

"No, I'm tired of the secrets and lies, of pretending everything okay when it clearly isn't."

Elizabeth and Henry shared a glanced, what did they miss in the midst of all the other chaos?

"What secrets and lies?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Why don't you tell us?" Jason challenged.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We know you guys are in couples therapy. So will you just be honest with us for once and tell us if your getting a divorce?"

Elizabeth held up her hand, "Whoa, whoa, who said anything about divorce?"

"We're not blind mom, we know things have been tense since your fight at the farmhouse. Dad's come home drunk, the therapy and his trip came at pretty convenient time; it doesn't take a genius to see where things are headed."-Stevie

"Your mom and I are not getting a divorce. Yes, we are in therapy to work out something's, but like I've told you before I love her and we will get past this. I'm sorry this has affected you all; we tried to keep it quiet so not to worry you all."

"But maybe trying to keep it a secret makes it worse. Don't you think it would be better that we all knew what was going on so our mind's wouldn't spin out of control?"

"Looking back now we probably should've told you about the therapy but as for the rest of it we are allowed our privacy just like you always want yours. From now we will talk to you guys about major decisions, events… etc but, as for the small stuff such as coming home drunk or work trips that's between us unless we decide otherwise. Understood?"

Jason, Alison and Stevie all nodded in agreement.

Elizabeth started laughing and shaking her head.

"What's so funny babe?"

"Oh I was just thinking tradecraft might really be the family business."


End file.
